Readings

Psalms, Proverbs and More

 

Be still and know that I am God.

 

~  Psalm 46:10

 

 

 

Psalm 1

Blessed are the man and the woman

who have grown beyond their greed

and who have put an end to their hatred

and no longer nourish illusions.

But they delight in the way things are

and keep their hearts open, day and night.

They are like trees planted near flowing rivers,

which bear fruit when they are ready.

Their leaves will not fall or wither.

Everything they do will succeed.

 

 

 

 

Psalm 19

 

The heavens declare God’s glory

and the magnificence of what made them.

Each new dawn is a miracle;

each new sky fills with beauty.

Their testimony speaks to the whole world

and reaches to the ends of the earth.

In them is a path for the sun,

who steps forth handsome as a bridegroom

and rejoices like an athlete as he runs.

He starts at one end of the heavens

and circles to the other end,

and nothing can hide from his heat.

God’s universe is perfect,

awing the mind.

God’s truth is subtle,

baffling the intellect.

God’s law is complete,

quickening the breath.

God’s compassion is fathomless,

refreshing the soul.

God’s justice is absolute,

lighting up the eyes.

God’s love is radiant,

rejoicing the heart,

more precious than the finest gold,

sweeter than honey from the comb.

Help me to be aware of my selfishness,

but without undue shame or self-judgement.

Let me always feel you present,

in every atom of my life.

Let me keep surrendering my self

until I am utterly transparent.

Let my words be rooted in honesty

and my thoughts be lost in your light.

Unnamable God, my essence, my origin,

my origin, my life-blood, my home.

 

 

Psalm 37

 

Pay attention to the man without blame, the upright man.

The only real future belongs to the man of peace.

 

~ Psalms 37:37

 

 

Psalm 46

 

Be still and know that I am God.

 

 

Psalm 104

 

Unnamable God, you are fathomless:

I praise you with endless awe.

You are wrapped in light like a cloak;

you stretch out the sky like a curtain.

You make the clouds your chariot;

you walk on the wings of the wind.

You use the winds as your messengers,

thunder and lightning as your servants.

You look at the earth- it trembles,

you touch the hill and they smoke.

You laid the earth's fountains

so that they would never be destroyed.

You covered the land with ocean;

the waters rose higher than the mountains.

They fled at the sound of your voice;

you thundered and they ran away.

They rushed down onto the valleys,

to the place you appointed for them.

You bounded them, so that they would never

return to inundate the earth.

You send streams  into the valleys,

and they flow among the hills.

All the animals drink from them;

the wild asses quench their thirst.

Beside them the birds of the sky dwell ,

singing among the branches.

You water the hill from the sky;

by your care the whole earth is nourished.

You make grass grow for the cattle

and grains for the service of mankind,

to bring  forth food from the earth

and bread that strengthens the body,

oil that makes the face shine

and wine that gladdens the heart.

You plant the trees that grow tall,

pines, and cedars of Lebanon,

in which many birds build their nest,

and the stork on the topmost branches.

The mountains are for the wild goats;

the cliffs are a shelter for the rock squirrels.

You created the moon to count months;

the sun knows when I must set.

You make darkness, it is night,

the forest animals emerge.

The young lions roar for their prey,

seeking their food from God.

The sun rises, they withdraw,

and lie down in their dens.

Man goes out to his labor

and works until it's evening.

How infinite are your creatures, Unnamable One!

With wisdom you made them all.

The whole earth is filled with your riches.

There is the sea in it's vastness,

where innumerable creatures live,

fish both tiny and huge.

There sharks swim, and the whale

that you created to play with.

All these depend on you

to give them food in due time.

You open your hands- they gather it;

you give it they are filled with gladness.

You hide your face- they are stricken;

you take away their breath - they die

and returned their bodies to the dust.

You send forth your breath- they are born,

and with them you replenish the earth.

Your glory will last forever;

eternally you rejoice in your works.

I will sing to you in every moment;

I will praise you with every breath.

How sweet is it to trust you;

what joy to embrace your will.

May all selfishness disappear from me,

and may you always shine from my heart. 

 

 

 

Psalm 131

Lord, my mind is not noisy with desires

and my heart has satisfied its longing.

I do not care about religion

or anything that is not you.

I have soothed and quieted my soul,

like a child at its mother’s breast.

My soul is as peaceful as a child

Sleeping in its mothers arms.

 

 

More than all else,
Keep watch over your heart,
Since here are the wellsprings of life.

~ Proverbs 4

My heart was split,

and a flower appeared;

and grace sprang up;

and it bore fruit for my God.

 

You split me,

tore my heart open,

filled me with love.

You poured your spirit into me;

I knew you as I know myself.

 

Speaking waters touched me

from your fountain, the source of life.

I swallowed them and was drunk

with the water that never dies.

And my drunkenness was insight,

intimacy with your spirit.

 

And you have made all things new;

you have showed me all things shining.

You have granted me perfect ease;

I have become like Paradise,

a garden whose fruit is joy;

and you are the sun upon me.

 

My eyes are radiant with your spirit;

my nostrils fill with your fragrance.

My ears delight in your music,

and my face is covered with your dew.

 

Blessed are the men and women

who are planted on your earth,

in your garden,

who grow as your trees and flowers,

who transform their darkness to light.

Their roots plunge into darkness;

their faces turn toward the light.

 

All those who love are beautiful;

they overflow with your presence

so they can do nothing but good.

There is infinite space in your garden;

all men, all women are welcome here;

all they need do is enter.

 

~ The Odes of Solomon

 

O Supreme Eternal Reality,

Pure Being beyond all subject and object,

Beyond all cerebral thinking,

Unconceptualizable and Unverbalizable,

Dwelling in silence.

I long to experience the nameless, incomprehensible Being,

As Moses did at the Burning Bush,

Burned and never consumed,

A Higher consciousness,

Before which I can only bow in silence and reverence,

Glimpsing indescribable suchness and eternal mystery.

 

~ Anonymous, The Oxford Book of Prayer

 

              Sources

Stephen Mitchell, A Book of Psalms: Selected & Adapted from the Hebrew

 

 

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